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Noctua Atlantica
''Noctua atlantica'' is a species of yellow underwing moth belonging to the family Noctuidae, the cutworms. This moth is endemic to the Azores. Taxonomy ''Noctua atlantica'' was first formally described in 1905 as ''Agrostis atlantica'' by the English entomologist William Warren from types which had been collected on the Azores in 1903 by the Scottish ornithologist William Robert Ogilvie-Grant, who collected a series of 3 types from Terceira, Graciosa and São Jorge. In 1971 it was transferred to the genus '' Noctua'' by the Austrian lepidopterist Rudolf Pinker. Description ''Noctua atlantica'' is may be identified within the genus ''Noctua'' by its wing pattern, having an ochre-brown hind wing. There are also differences in the male genitalia. Distribution and habitat ''Noctua atlantica'' is endemic to the Azores where it is found on the islands of Corvo, Flores, Faial, Pico, Graciosa, São Jorge, Terceira and São Miguel. It is found in the uplands, at altitude ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Warren (entomologist)
William Warren (20 January 1839, in Cambridge – 18 October 1914, in Hemel Hempstead) was an English entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera. William Warren was first educated at Oakham School, and subsequently graduated from the University of Cambridge, taking first-class classical honours in 1861. He then taught at Sedbergh School, Doncaster Grammar School (1866-1876) and Stubbington House School. He collected extensively in the British Isles, notably at Wicken Fen, with a special interest in Micro-lepidoptera. After giving up teaching in 1882, he lived in Cambridge and devoted himself fully to entomology, publishing around 40 papers on British moths between 1878 and 1889. Notably, in 1887 he was the first to recognise Grapholita pallifrontana (Lienig & Zeller) (Lep: Tortricidae) as a British species of micro-moth, a species which now has the English name the Liquorice Piercer and is of conservation concern. Later in the same year he successfully bred the moth and described ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family (taxonomy), family. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus. :E.g. ''Panthera leo'' (lion) and ''Panthera onca'' (jaguar) are two species within the genus ''Panthera''. ''Panthera'' is a genus within the family Felidae. The composition of a genus is determined by taxonomy (biology), taxonomists. The standards for genus classification are not strictly codified, so different authorities often produce different classifications for genera. There are some general practices used, however, including the idea that a newly defined genus should fulfill these three criteria to be descriptively useful: # monophyly – all descendants ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moths Of Europe
Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of which have yet to be described. Most species of moth are nocturnal, but there are also crepuscular and diurnal species. Differences between butterflies and moths While the butterflies form a monophyletic group, the moths, comprising the rest of the Lepidoptera, do not. Many attempts have been made to group the superfamilies of the Lepidoptera into natural groups, most of which fail because one of the two groups is not monophyletic: Microlepidoptera and Macrolepidoptera, Heterocera and Rhopalocera, Jugatae and Frenatae, Monotrysia and Ditrysia.Scoble, MJ 1995. The Lepidoptera: Form, function and diversity. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press; 404 p. Although the rules for distinguishing moths from butterflies are not well establis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Invasive Species
An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native species that become harmful to their native environment after human alterations to its food webfor example the purple sea urchin (''Strongylocentrotus purpuratus'') which has decimated kelp forests along the northern California coast due to overharvesting of its natural predator, the California sea otter (''Enhydra lutris''). Since the 20th century, invasive species have become a serious economic, social, and environmental threat. Invasion of long-established ecosystems by organisms is a natural phenomenon, but human-facilitated introductions have greatly increased the rate, scale, and geographic range of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deforestation
Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated deforestation occurs in tropical rainforests. About 31% of Earth's land surface is covered by forests at present. This is one-third less than the forest cover before the expansion of agriculture, a half of that loss occurring in the last century. Between 15 million to 18 million hectares of forest, an area the size of Bangladesh, are destroyed every year. On average 2,400 trees are cut down each minute. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations defines deforestation as the conversion of forest to other land uses (regardless of whether it is human-induced). "Deforestation" and "forest area net change" are not the same: the latter is the sum of all forest losses (deforestation) and all forest gains (forest expansion) in a gi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polyphagous
Feeding is the process by which organisms, typically animals, obtain food. Terminology often uses either the suffixes -vore, -vory, or -vorous from Latin ''vorare'', meaning "to devour", or -phage, -phagy, or -phagous from Greek φαγεῖν (), meaning "to eat". Evolutionary history The evolution of feeding is varied with some feeding strategies evolving several times in independent lineages. In terrestrial vertebrates, the earliest forms were large amphibious piscivores 400 million years ago. While amphibians continued to feed on fish and later insects, reptiles began exploring two new food types, other tetrapods (carnivory), and later, plants (herbivory). Carnivory was a natural transition from insectivory for medium and large tetrapods, requiring minimal adaptation (in contrast, a complex set of adaptations was necessary for feeding on highly fibrous plant materials). Evolutionary adaptations The specialization of organisms towards specific food sources is one of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Juniperus Brevifolia
''Juniperus brevifolia'', the Azores juniper, is a species of juniper, endemic to the Azores (on Corvo, Faial, Flores, Pico, Santa Maria, São Jorge, São Miguel, and Terceira), where it occurs at altitudes of , rarely up to . It is closely related to ''Juniperus oxycedrus'' (prickly juniper) of the Mediterranean region and ''Juniperus cedrus'' (Canary Islands juniper) of the neighboring Macaronesian islands. It is threatened by habitat loss.Adams, R. P. (2004). ''Junipers of the World''. Trafford. Farjon, A. (2005). ''Monograph of Cupressaceae and Sciadopitys''. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Thomas, P. 2013''Juniperus brevifolia''.The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2015.2. Downloaded on 01 September 2015. It is a shrub or small tree growing to a height of and a trunk diameter up to . The leaves are evergreen, needle-like, in whorls of three, glaucous green, long and 1–3 mm broad, with a double white stomatal band (split by a green midrib) on the inner su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
São Miguel Island
São Miguel Island (; Portuguese language, Portuguese for "Saint Michael"), nicknamed "The Green Island" (''Ilha Verde''), is the largest and most populous island in the Portugal, Portuguese archipelago of the Azores. The island covers and has around 140,000 inhabitants, with 45,000 people residing in Ponta Delgada, the archipelago's largest city. History In 1427, São Miguel became the second of the islands discovered by Gonçalo Velho Cabral to be settled by colonists from continental Portugal. This date is uncertain, as it is believed that the island was discovered between 1426 and 1437 and inscribed in portolans from the middle of the 15th century. Its discovery was later recorded by Priesthood (Catholic Church), Father Gaspar Frutuoso in the seminal history of the Azores, ''Saudades da Terra'', as he began: "This island of São Miguel where...we are, is mountainous and covered in ravines, and it was, when we discovered it, covered in trees...due to its humidity, with its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pico Island
Pico Island (''Ilha do Pico,'' ) is an island in the Central Group of the Portuguese Azores. The landscape features an eponymous volcano, Ponta do Pico, which is the highest mountain in Portugal, the Azores, and the highest elevation of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. In the tradition of the Portuguese poet, Raul Brandão, Pico is referred to as the ''Ilha Preta'' ("Black Island"), for its black volcanic soils, which nourish its UNESCO-designated vineyards that once allowed the development of the island's economy. Pico is the second largest and, geologically speaking, the most recently formed island of the Azores, being around 300,000 years old. History The exact date of the island's discovery is not known. However, in the 1375 Catalan Atlas, Pico is depicted along several other islands of the Azores, where it is labelled as ''li colunbj''. In Cristoforo Soligo's map from 1475, Pico is described both as Dom Diniz (or São Diniz) island and as ''Insula Columbi''. Although the Azor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Faial Island
Faial Island (), also known in English as Fayal, is a Portugal, Portuguese island of the Central Group (Portuguese: ''Grupo Central'') of the Azores. The Capelinhos Volcano, the westernmost point of the island, may be considered the westernmost point of Europe, if the Monchique Islet, near Flores Island (Azores), Flores Island, is considered part of North America, for it sits on the North American Plate. Its largest town is Horta, Azores, Horta. With its nearest neighbours, Pico Island, Pico (east across the channel) and São Jorge Island, São Jorge (northeast across the channel), it forms an area commonly known as the ''Triângulo'' (English: ''Triangle''). The island has also been referred to as the Ilha Azul (English: ''Blue Island''), derived from the writings of Portuguese poet Raul Brandão, due to the large quantity of hydrangeas that bloom during the summer months: History During a period of medieval legends and unsubstantiated stories of mystical lands, the island ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flores Island (Azores)
Flores Island ( pt, Ilha das Flores; ) is an island of the Western Group () of the Azores. It has an area of 143 km2, a population of 3428 inhabitants, and, together with Corvo Island of the western archipelago, lies within the North American Plate. The nearby Monchique Islet is the westernmost point of Portugal. It has been referred to as the ('Yellow/Auburn Island') by marketing and due to the association with poet Raul Brandão, but it is well known for its abundance of flowers, hence its Portuguese name of . History Some early accounts existed of the "(seven) islands of the Azores and two islands of Flores" (referring to the islands of Flores and Corvo), but no "official discovery" occurred until the mid-15th century. The island of Flores was discovered in the late summer of 1452 by the navigator Diogo de Teive and his son João de Teive, and first noted by the pilot Pêro Velasco to Christopher Columbus during his voyages. For his reward, Teive received the concessi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Corvo Island
Corvo Island ( pt, Ilha do Corvo, ), literally the ''Island of the Crow'', is the smallest and the northernmost island of the Azores archipelago and the northernmost in Macaronesia. It has a population of approximately 384 inhabitants (as of 2021) making it the smallest single municipality in the Azores and in Portugal. The island lies on the North American Plate. History Apocryphal stories of the Carthaginian Empire exploring the islands in approximately 200 BC notwithstanding, the mainstream history of the Azores originates with non-official exploration during the period of the late 13th century, resulting in maps, such as the Genovese Atlas Medici from 1351, which mentions obscure islands in an undefined Atlantic archipelago. The Medici Atlas refers to an ''Insula Corvi Marini'' (''Island of the Marine Crow''; "marine crow" is the literal translation of ''Corvo Marinho'', which is the Portuguese name for the cormorant), in a seven-island archipelago, but it is improbable t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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